Tahiti - Review by Ken aka Equailo - September 2004
 

en & Eva’s 25th Anniversary Tour 2004 – Tahiti, Moorea, and Cruising through French Polynesia on the Radisson Paul Gauguin

As reported by Ken aka Elquailo on Luxury Cruise Talk

Tuesday, September 14, 2004:

Our taxi to the airport arrived about fifteen minutes early at 6:45 AM while I was still busy taking the trash and recycling out to the curb at the end of the driveway, so I just continued in stride to bring out our luggage and load it into the taxi. At the airport there was no wait at the Northwest Airlines first class line so our boarding passes were printed and our bags were checked by 7:30. It was a pleasant surprise to hear that we would be able to check our bags all the way through to Papeete, Tahiti with the combination of our Northwest and Air Tahiti Nui flights.

Although I’m one of the TSA registered travelers and can enter security without an ID by doing either an iris or fingerprint scan, Eva is not, so we went through the standard security check in the Northwest first class/elite line without any significant wait. As I’ve come to expect, the TSA security people wanted to have a look inside my pelican case that holds the underwater video housing, camera, and accessories. We had time for a quick orange juice in the Northwest Airlines Worldclub, and then arrived at our gate just as boarding was beginning – about 45 minutes before departure. Our flight to LAX left and arrived on time, and we relaxed on the flight with music on the Dell digital jukebox connected to both of our headphones.

In Los Angeles although we didn’t need to pick up our checked luggage, we still had to walk with our carry-on bags from Northwest’s gates in terminal #2 over to the international terminal, about 5 minutes away. The international terminal was very crowded and very busy, but we soon found our way through the mob to the Air Tahiti Nui counter in the far corner from where we had entered the terminal. The counter agent in the business class line for Air Tahiti Nui was particularly excellent, and he not only had us quickly checked in, but he took the details from our checked bag claim tickets to insure that the bags were transferred and loaded on our flight. He gave us a pass for their business/first class lounge, which is where we headed for some drinks, snacks, and some TV while waiting for our flight. Air Tahiti Nui’s lounge space at LAX is affiliated with Qantas and British Airways, and was above average as airport clubs go.

We exchanged some dollars for local currency as we headed to the gate, and boarded right on time. The business class service on Air Tahiti Nui was outstanding. We were greeted by our flight crew with a Mai Tai upon boarding, and the food and service throughout the flight were excellent. The food in particular was a notch above most international business class flights, with highlights being the salmon & shrimp appetizers, the sun-dried tomato and herb crusted lamb loin, the seafood-stuffed filet of turbot, breads, and the cheese – no, the English word “cheese” does not do it justice - officially it was “assiette du fromager”. The Champagne and Bourgogne Aligote weren’t too shabby either. Neither was our beautiful young French flight attendant, who changed uniforms three times during the flight, although it would be hard to confuse her tropical dress with a “uniform” were it not for the colors and pattern matching the rest of the crew. For dessert there was a delicious apricot carrot cake and pineapple & lemon sorbet. We also tried a pear liqueur that was outrageously strong and pretty much undrinkable.

As we crossed the equator, it seemed only fitting that we had Jimmy Buffett’s version of the Steven Stills’ song “Southern Cross” playing on the Dell jukebox.

We landed about 45 minutes early into Faaa airport, and rambled down the stairs with the carry on bags as there are no jetways in Faaa. Three other Air Tahiti Nui airbus 330s were also at the terminal. Getting through customs and immigration was a breeze, but the wait for the checked bags was about 30 minutes. One of the two baggage claim belts that transport the bags seemed to break, so the second was started and that’s where our bags eventually appeared. Just outside of the baggage area we saw our names on a whiteboard, and upon checking in with the Tahiti Nui Travel hostess we were given tiare flower leis and directed to a bus for transportation to the hotel, while all of the bags were loaded onto a separate truck. We waited on the bus for about 10 minutes as the rest of the passengers collected their luggage and passed through customs and immigration, and then it was just a short 5 minute ride to the Tahiti Intercontinental Beachcomber resort.

There was a separate check in area away from the main desk for Radisson Seven Seas Cruises passengers like us that were on a pre-cruise stay, and there seemed to be a fair number of us. There was some tasty fruit punch while we waited to get our room keys, and then we were escorted to a cart with our bags and driven directly to the entrance to our over water bungalow on the motu, #495. Riding on the cart with us were a couple that we would later learn were Dick and Tami from Northern California, as we would become friends on the cruise. They were in bungalow #493.

Once you have finally arrived at your bungalow, and your bags are all accounted for and inside, there is a special kind of magic to your first time being on the private back deck of an over water bungalow in Tahiti. As you gaze in awe over a sparkling lagoon in the moonlight under the myriad of stars in Tahiti, it kind of takes your breath away. This is especially true after a full day of travel, and having left all hints of work, responsibility, and “civilization in general” fully behind you, at least for a fleeting couple of weeks to come.


Wednesday, September 15, 2004:

We were up and wide awake at 6:15 AM with no alarm, and were greeted by the first of what would be a consistent event for every morning of the entire trip – a beautiful sunrise to begin a beautiful sunny day. In the daylight, from the deck of our over water bungalow we could now see the full clear profile of Moorea to the West, as well as the rainbow of fish that were right under our noses surrounding our bungalow. There were Picasso triggerfish, coronet fish, Moorish idols, trumpet fish, six-bar wrasses, and many others. I snuck back inside to confirm our outrigger canoe breakfast delivery for that morning, and it arrived right on schedule, announced for the world to hear by the blowing of a conch shell by the canoe’s paddler. I must admit that there is also some significant magic to having a delicious breakfast delivered over the water by outrigger canoe, and having it announced by the sounding of a conch shell. If they had delivered pickled gophers on a stick by outrigger canoe it probably would have seemed tasty when coupled with the view from the deck, but it was hardly gopher that was delivered – there was fresh fruit and lots of it – passion fruit, papaya, mango, pineapple, melon, and watermelon, along with croissants, pastries, fruit yogurt, fresh squeezed orange juice, three different teas, and coffee.

After breakfast and some more highly focused “hanging out and doing nothing” on the bungalow deck, we strolled over to the Aquatica dive operation to sign up for some dives. Aquatica is located out on its own peninsula at the Intercontinental Beachcomber, and was in plain view from our bungalow deck. We arranged for two dives the following morning, and decided to play it by ear for any additional dives after that.

We had noticed on the resort’s list of activities that there was a daily “eel feeding” at 11:30 AM at the Aquatica dock, and so we stayed to watch the resident eels chow down voraciously on fish scraps. The event also seemed to attract quite a few fish and a few stingrays that also wanted in on the free meal.

I had not yet had the opportunity to really test my new underwater video housing that had been bought to use with my Sony PC330 camera so the new rig was put to the test snorkeling off of our bungalow’s dock. It’s a Light & Motion Mako, and I had chosen it for a few key features, such as the small size and weight (especially when compared to my previous underwater housing), the integrated color correcting flip filter, and the ability to switch between miniDV video mode and 3 megapixel digital photo mode with a single pushbutton. I had also purchased the optional monitor back, so that I could see a larger full-color image of what the camera was seeing while filming in the water. The monitor back isn’t really effective when snorkeling due to the greater amount of light near the surface during the day, but it would prove to be very effective when diving.

Tahitian waters not only have a huge and diverse tropical fish population, but there are zillions of sea cucumbers just about everywhere that there’s sand, and some of them would more appropriately be named sea zucchini – they were gigantic!

After snorkeling in the lagoon off of our bungalow, we then went to snorkel inside the resort’s lagoonarium that surrounds the inner motu. There was a surprisingly large variety and number of fish here as well despite the captive environment, including a stingray that rose up from being buried under the sand right in front of me in about three feet of water. Fins are not allowed in the lagoonarium, and it was strange trying to propel around without them.

We had lunch in the resort’s main dining area – Le Tiare restaurant – which provides a marvelous open air view over the main infinity pool and across to the lagoon, with Moorea in the distance. Adjacent to Le Tiare is the Tiki Bar, and one cannot but marvel at a tropical beach bar in Tahiti that not only has Tikis for posts but calls itself “The Tiki Bar”. Eva had the best value on the menu for lunch; a chicken curry with rice and vegetables that was fabulous. I had an equally delectable mahi mahi sandwich with pomme frittes. Wow, they do know how to do real French pomme frittes right, even in a remote outpost like the South Pacific. Tropical drinks were good, and quite expensive at 1200 cfp (about $13.50 US) per drink, but hey – we’re in Tahiti! We also had a large bottle of their own private label water with pictures of all three of the Intercontinental Beachcomber resorts in French Polynesia on the label – Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora.

After lunch we decided to relax and get some sun by the Le Lotus infinity pool that is located further South on the property. This pool is more secluded, and is often featured in photographs that are attempting to show off the resort at its best. It has a soft sand bottom, and offers an incredible view across the water to Moorea. Probably the most notorious feature is that it also has a swim-up bar that has several permanent stools in the water just below the water line.

While we were getting some sun, Eva later congratulated me on maintaining my cool (or at least it looked that way…) while a beautiful young French honeymooner came over to sunbathe topless about two feet to my right. She and her new husband also later joined us at the Le Lotus swim-up bar, where we wound up drinking with another American couple that persuaded us all to have a Bloody Mary that was expertly prepared by the Le Lotus bartender, and served as a nice complement to my Tahitian Hinano beer. Our bartender also offered up some fresh olives which he prepared on the bar with Bloody Mary seasonings, and some very small peanuts. OK, it’s time for a reality check - let me get this right: we’re sitting on stools in the water, sand in our toes, Tahitian beer and Bloody Marys in our stomachs, with the unparalleled view of Moorea across the Tahitian lagoon and the Sea of Moons in front of us, the sun is setting a brilliant orange, yellow, and purple behind Moorea, the quiet sound of birds and waves is all that is heard, and the air is warm and scented with plumeria and tiare flowers. Life is good. No, not quite right; life is VERY good.

We watched the last of the sunset turn mostly orange and red from the deck of our bungalow as some racing outrigger canoes paddled their way across the horizon, and we then had dinner at Le Tiare. This was Wednesday night, so there was a Tahitian show with musicians and dancers performing in the area between the restaurant seating and the main pool. You could purchase a reserved seat and a fixed price dinner buffet for a fairly high price. Or you could simply eat a la carte and enjoy the show for free at a non-reserved table with every bit as good of a view. Or, if you were so inclined, you could even sit in the Tiki Bar and enjoy the show for free over a tropical drink. Hmmmm...future guests of the Intercontinental Beachcomber take note. We ate a la carte and enjoyed the show for free.

Watching the night sky in Tahiti is unlike anywhere that I have ever been previously. There are simply far more stars (zillions!) that are visible, including many constellations. Eva was able to identify several constellations, including the Southern Cross.

Thursday, September 16, 2004:

Alarm clocks appear to be unnecessary in Tahiti, as again we were both up at 6-something, and out on the deck to enjoy the early morning. It appeared that many of the fish that we had seen the previous morning were in effectively the very same spots on this morning, and it seemed that not only were they territorial, but that they were very much creatures of habit.

We loaded up our dive gear into our dive bags and walked with it over to Aquatica for our first morning dive. The staff at Aquatica were friendly and helpful, and got us set up with weights for our weight-integrated BCs, and with our tanks. Although there were only six of us diving, we would be diving in two groups. Eva and I had our own private dive master and guide, Rafael, and he was great. The other group of four was some Japanese gentlemen that would be diving with Marie-Claude, whom we learned was one of the dive masters from the Radisson Paul Gauguin and was on vacation from the ship for a couple of weeks.

Our first dive site was called “The Source”, as there is a source of fresh water at the site that escapes from the island and out into the reef, creating a very unusual visual effect where the fresh water meets the salt water of the Pacific. We passed several surfers near the reef break on the way through the channel to the dive site, and the waves looked to be at least 8-10 feet high on the outer edge of the reef.

The Source site is mainly three large coral pinnacles in addition to the fresh water “source”, with some interesting coral growth and a moderate amount of aquatic life. We saw good sized turtles – one a green sea turtle and the other a hawksbill turtle – as well as lots of reef fish. At the end of the dive Eva offered up gummy bears to all on board the dive boat to get the salt taste out, and it was appreciated by all, especially the Japanese who bowed with a polite “domo arrigato!”.

Since this was my first dive in several months, I had a bit of trouble equalizing during the descent, and went straight for the aspirin and ear drops between dives after we came back to the Aquatica dock. I was fine once I was back at about 70 feet of depth on our second dive later that morning.

The second dive was at a site called “The Wrecks” in recognition of the two wrecks that are both easily approached during the same dive. The first wreck is a huge 100 ft. long schooner at about 80 feet of depth whose old exposed planks made part of it look like a skeletal rib cage, and the second wreck is a vintage World War II PBY Flying Boat airplane about 100 feet away. Rafael was again a private personal guide for Eva and me, while the Japanese contingent went diving separately with Marie-Claude. The PBY plane was particularly cool, and you could look right into the cockpit or enter the fuselage through a cargo door on the side.

Eva had reduced her weight in her BC by 2 pounds for this dive, and that turned out to be an issue near the end of the dive as her tank was nearing empty and I had to hold on to her to keep her from heading for the surface during our safety stop at 15 feet. Aquatica uses steel tanks which require less separate weight to carry, so we were both still getting used to what was optimal. Eva’s gummy bears were again passed around among the divers and the Aquatica dive staff.

After our dives we rinsed our gear with a hose and in a dunk tank that Aquatica had right at the edge of their dock. Although we had been told that tipping is neither customary nor expected in Tahiti, I attempted to tip Rafael for the outstanding service that he had given us as our personal dive master for these two dives, but he graciously declined to accept it, thanking us with a smile. Overall our diving experience with Aquatica was excellent, and I would highly recommend them. We immediately signed up to do another dive with them for the next morning.

Lunch was again at Le Tiare, where we had an excellent oriental sampler appetizer platter and some “salade verte” with bleu cheese. We then did some more intensive “lounging and hanging around doing nothing” by the resorts main infinity pool, and I walked around the property a bit to take some photos and to sneak up to the main desk to check on the logistics and status for our “Intimate Tahitian Ceremony”.

Eva was unaware that months before we left on this trip that I had started to research options for some sort of wedding vows renewal ceremony to occur during the itinerary, since this whole trip was in celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary. The primary options seemed to be to arrange for an event at either the Tiki Village on Moorea, onboard the Radisson Paul Gauguin, or at either of the Intercontinental Beachcomber resorts at which we would be staying – either on Tahiti or Moorea. I had decided upon doing the “Intimate Tahitian Ceremony” at the Intercontinental Beachcomber in Tahiti based upon the description on the resort’s web page that made it sound near perfect for what I had in mind, and also the attentive and helpful responses to my inquiries directly from the resort’s staff well prior to the trip.

A little after 4:00 we were sitting on lounge chairs by the main infinity pool and Eva noticed that there were resort staff members that seemed to be setting up for some sort of ceremony or event on the resorts motu in the middle of the lagoonarium. They were placing fresh flowers into two adjacent large peacock chairs, and decorating the sand with huge palm leaves and more flowers. She asked me if I had noticed this, and that it looked as if someone might be getting married on the motu or something like that, and I said something like “Oh really…”. At that, since she knows me far too well, her demeanor changed immediately. I believe her next words were something like: “Oh no!, please tell me that you don’t have anything to do with this.” My response was vague, which of course only helped to confirm her worst suspicions. After another minute or so of brutal interrogation I came clean, but only partially, and informed her that we needed to go back to the bungalow in about twenty minutes. The conversation then went something like this:

Eva: “Why do we need to go back to the bungalow?”
Me: “There will be some people meeting us there.”
Eva: “Who???!???”
Me: “Some Tahitians.”
Eva: “Why??!???”
Me: “Because they need to get us dressed.”
Eva: “Dressed! For what??!??”
Me: “You’ll see (heh heh heh).”
Eva: “AAAAARRRGH!, no, you didn’t!, please tell me that you didn’t!, tell me that what they’re setting up on the motu isn’t for us!”
Me: “Huh? What do you mean? (heh heh heh)
Eva: “AAAARRRRGH!!!!!!!!!!!!”

So, we went back to the bungalow while I got berated for not giving her any fair warning, but of course I knew that if I had given her any more warning than I did that it would have spoiled the surprise, and it would have presented an opportunity for her to try and rationalize out of doing an “Intimate Tahitian Ceremony”, and I wouldn’t have any of that! (heh heh heh)

Eventually my male attendant arrived in full Tahitian garb and proceeded to dress me for the ceremony. All that I would be wearing would be a white pareu around my waist with an ornate belt, a shoulder piece, and a huge headpiece. I would be barefoot. Eva’s female attendant had escorted her to the other side of the wall in the bungalow and informed me that it was bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony, so my attendant and I would have to leave while she dressed Eva for the ceremony.

Let me tell you, a 6’2’’ white guy gets lots of looks at a resort when walking around to a motu wearing nothing but traditional ornate Tahitian garb. At the motu I waited with my attendant, and met the Tahitian High Priest, whose clothing was even more detailed and ornate than mine.

Soon the conch shells started sounding, led by my attendant. Eva was paraded from the bungalow to the motu to join me, escorted by Tahitian singers and musicians that performed as they walked. She was also dressed in a white pareu with belt, shoulder ornamentation, and a huge headdress.

Even though the ceremony had not yet begun, by now we had clearly become the center of attention for the entire resort, and literally dozens of strangers were shooting photos and video of us from all around the Lagoonarium, even up at the resort’s main building, from Le Tiare restaurant, and from the Tiki Bar.

The entire ceremony was of course in Tahitian, but Eva had another attendant quietly translate key portions for us, explaining each section of what the High Priest was saying and doing. At one point our headdresses and other pieces were replaced with fragrant tiare crowns and leis, and we were wrapped in a traditional Tahitian wedding quilt. Our hands were joined around ti leaves, and purifying coconut water (I LOVE coconut water!...) was poured over our hands. We were then each handed a tasty tropical drink in a coconut, and escorted to the two peacock chairs to sit and be entertained by the singers, and musicians, while our attendants danced. We were then brought up to dance, me with Eva’s attendant and her with mine, and then we danced together, Tahitian style. Let’s just say that there was plenty of booty a shakin’ – Tahitian style!

Finally we all posed for the camera, and the entire wedding party (singers, dancers, musicians, attendants, high priest) came through to us reception-line-style, and everybody kissed everybody, which seemed to be the custom. We were then slowly paraded back together as a group to our bungalow as the musicians and singers continued to perform while walking with us all the way to our doorstep. On the way there along the walkway there were some Japanese guests that asked if they could take some more pictures of us (in Japanese), and of course we obliged. We finished the last of the drinks in the coconuts that they had given us on our deck as a spectacular sunset drifted across the water and behind Moorea, an as several racing canoes paddled back before the light was completely gone.

To top off a fabulous day, we had dinner at the resort’s premier restaurant, Le Lotus. We had a very private waterfront table under a thatched roof, and the restaurant was not crowded. Dick and Tami had a similar table to ours in the other section of the restaurant across the water from us, but we still would not know until the cruise that they were Dick and Tami. The food and the service at Le Lotus were fabulous. Even before the main courses and appetizers we feasted on incredible fresh warm breads dipped in a curry oil. Meal highlights included Thai shrimp & scallops, truffles, cold leak soup, pigeon in pastry, crusted tuna with coconut risotto, and huge desserts. It was washed down with some mimosas that were followed by an excellent Pouilly Fume and some San Pellegrino.

After dinner we did a very leisurely stroll back along the waterfront toward our bungalow, but stopped on the motu where our ceremonial palm fronds and flowers were still adorning the sand to dance in the moonlight to the live Tahitian music that was being played up by Le Tiare restaurant. As we crossed the Lagoonarium bridge, a large stingray graced us with a fly-by alongside the bridge.

Friday, September 17, 2004:

It should probably feel strange that we had no trouble getting up at 5:30 AM to get ready for our dive, but it didn’t. We noticed that again pretty much all of the same fish were in their usual same locations around our deck for their standard morning routine. We also discovered a small lizard in our bungalow, and from here on we would be more attuned to noticing other lizards throughout French Polynesia.

We would again be diving with Rafael and Marie-Claude from Aquatica, and this time there was only one other couple diving with us – Leslie and Lawson from Cayman Brac. Lawson is a professional dive photographer, and was carrying multiple cameras and lights. Our dive would be an awesome 100 ft. wall dive called St. Etienne Drop Off. Once again Rafael was a private guide just for the two of us, as Leslie and Lawson headed off with Marie-Claude. Along the wall we encountered a huge and unusually friendly Titan trigger fish that seemed to appreciate some free food that Rafael offered it. The wall dive itself was great, with nothing but dark blue abyss below and clear blue water looking out from the wall. We maintained a hard floor limit at 100 feet below the surface, and the coral was pristine at this depth. This was the only dive on the entire trip where I did not take my underwater video/photo rig along, as I wanted to be in complete control with a maximum of air at this depth.

For our open water pickup by the dive boat we needed to be sufficiently clear of the reef wall, so for our safety stop we swam out from the wall and into open blue water on all sides, inflating a safety sausage for the boat to find us. Being out in open water with nothing but blue in all directions is a beautiful view, and makes you really appreciate a reliable depth reading from your dive computer.

The boat crew felt that the surge was still a bit tricky where we surfaced, so for safety they had us swim about 150 feet from where we were further out to sea along the surface before we climbed back onto the dive boat. It was another great dive with Aquatica, and time for some more gummy bears on the dive boat.

Since Marie-Claude was normally a dive master with the Radisson Paul Gauguin, Eva asked her about the dives that we had planned during the cruise, and if we would have the opportunity to see manta rays. Marie-Claude suggested that instead of doing the Table Top dive in Bora Bora that we should see if the ship’s dive and activities staff could arrange a dive at Manta Valley/Anau for us instead. She also told us to be sure and to say “hello” (“bon jour”!) to Normand, the ship’s activities manager.

After a shower we hiked up to the resort’s main entrance, crossed the street, and took Le Truck into Papeete. This is definitely a very inexpensive and efficient way to get around on the island, and gave us an opportunity to get a little more local flavor than we would get at the resort, as this seemed to be transportation method of choice for many of the locals. We had lunch at the Mana Rock Café right along the main waterfront near the boat piers downtown. Eva ordered what we both agreed is the best tuna carpaccio that either of us has ever tasted. It was probably not just that the tuna was thin and fresh, but that it was smothered with chopped capers, fresh cracked pepper, fresh garlic, and spices. I had a good shrimp curry and salad, and we both had healthy quantities of draft Hinano beer. We got into a conversation with a Frenchman at an adjacent table that was over in Papeete for a few months on a work assignment. Tough job… The Mana Rock Café is also a cyber café, so we took advantage of their internet access to send some quick emails to the Tara, Alana, and Eric.

I was informed that we could not come to Papeete and not do some shopping, so we bought some black pearls, some vanilla, and a Tiki necklace for Eric. We visited the Papeete market, where the highlight for me was being able to buy some fresh coconut water still in the coconut, chilled and consumed through a straw. I was surprised to see parrotfish for sale in the market, placed out on tables. The market had a very interesting mix of local crafts, food items, and flowers.

We strolled around the waterfront for a while, and then took Le Truck back to the resort from downtown Papeete. Along the way there were many merchants hawking the days’ fish catch right along the road, with fish hanging on display (including parrotfish!), with the fish being constantly attended to swat any insects away that tried to land on the fish.

Back at the Intercontinental Resort it was not only “5 o’clock somewhere”, but it was past 5 o’clock right where we were, so that meant only one thing – time to go to the Tiki Bar for tropical drinks! Having had that huge and delicious late lunch at the Mana Rock Café, we decided to make a dinner out of tropical drinks and appetizers right from the Tiki Bar., so we also ordered some dim sum, cheese & salami, and chips with guacamole and what was supposed to be salsa but seemed more like ketchup. How’s that for a gourmet combination?

After “dinner” we spent our final night on the island of Tahiti watching the night sky, the stars, and the moonlight over the water from our deck, with the sound of the water and the waves out by the reef in the distance. Can it get any better? That’s a rhetorical question – the answer is “no, it can’t get any better”.

Saturday, September 18, 2004:

I was up early to take advantage of one of the unusual and rare features offered by the Intercontinental Beachcomber in Tahiti – free laundry facilities. Unfortunately, the free washing machine in the main building was not without issues. First, there seemed to be some sort of blockage in the external drain pipe, so water started flooding the floor rather than going out through the pipe, and then the spin cycle seemed to be completely non-functional. With no spin cycle, I had to throw some very heavy and totally soaked clothes into the dryer, which could not possibly dry everything within a reasonable period of time. I gave it about an hour, and then packed everything up to try and air dry some things back at our bungalow. At least the flooding water was able to mostly drain out through a drain grate in the floor, and not back into the hall.

We packed our bags, including setting aside one of the dive bags with much of the laundry that was still damp. We were supposed to have our bags ready for pickup at 10:00, and after calling at 9:55 that was exactly when they came to pick them up, within 5 minutes of the call. We stayed behind at our bungalow until check out time to enjoy yet another beautiful Tahitian morning, and watch our fish neighbors that were again in their usual regular locations.

After checkout we lounged on the resorts main balcony until it was time for a buffet meal at Le Tiare that was included in our package. Since we had had an outrigger canoe delivered breakfast on our first morning and were up and out early to go scuba diving on each of the other mornings, this was our first time making it to Le Tiare for breakfast or brunch, despite those meals having been included in our package. The buffet was very good, and at 88,000 pf for two (about $100 US) I’m glad that it was included. While we were having brunch we overheard a couple at another table that had just arrived that morning into Papeete from the Radisson Paul Gauguin, and they were raving about how wonderful their cruise was. A woman from Florida that had just arrived from diving in Rangiroa joined us at our table after seeing the diving decals on my pelican case and deducing that we were fellow scuba divers. Evidently some strong currents had forced her to stay in Rangiroa longer than she had planned, and she made it pretty clear that while Rangiroa offered some excellent drift diving through the main pass, that Rangiroa in her opinion could get pretty boring pretty fast when you are stuck there for several days.

There was no shortage of either variety or volume of excellent food at the buffet, so after our meal we parked ourselves in chairs up on the main lobby balcony and relaxed while we enjoyed the spectacular view across the main pool to the motu, the motu over water bungalows, the lagoon, the Sea of Moons, and Moorea. The Intercontinental Beachcomber has an online internet web cam that shows this view located at:

http://www.tahiti.interconti.com/control.cfm?page=Webcam&CFID=369951&CFTOKEN=44825854

We stayed there simply enjoying the weather and the view until it was time for our bus to take us from the resort to the ship in Papeete.

I think that the excitement and anticipation about boarding the ship made the bus ride to Papeete seem very short. Passports are checked while you are still on the bus, and once off of the bus you pick out your luggage on the dock under a canopy so that it can then be loaded up for transport to your suite on the ship. You also get to pose for an embarkation photo at the gangway just before boarding.

As soon as you enter the Grand Salon to check in you are handed the first of what will be many glasses of complimentary champagne during the cruise. Check in was efficient, and your photos are taken for security and your passports held until the end of the cruise.

We were in a category “B” suite with verandah, and it was rather spacious and highly functional for a cruise ship room. Almost immediately upon entering our suite we were joined by our butler, Nengah, who was from Bali, and our room attendant, Sofia, who was from Sweden. Both of them were wonderful the entire cruise. Nengah made it clear the he would be glad to attend to any request that we might have, and both his competence and sincerity were obvious. Our luggage then started to arrive, bag by bag, as Nengah then also came back with some tasty canapés for us to accompany our champagne.

When all of our luggage was empty, we were able to store all of the bags under the bed and completely out of the way. The suite had a characteristic that was rather uncommon for most cruise ship cabins that we’ve had before in that we had plenty of closet and storage space to store everything that we had brought with us. Since we still had wet laundry that needed to dry, we took advantage of just about any area of open space in both the main room and the bathroom to hang things to dry, and told Sofia and Nengah the story of the wet laundry to put them at ease about the random clothes hanging all around the suite. Nengah asked if he could make any reservations for us for dinner during the week at the two specialty restaurants on the ship (Apicius and the Pacific Grill), and he was able to confirm our requests.

We went to the activities desk to confirm all of our previously arranged activities, and met Camile from the dive staff. On Radisson’s online activities sign-up form there had not been any listing for the dive at Raiatea (Mushroom Patch), so we asked about signing up for that dive. Camile told us that this particular dive is run with an outside dive operator based upon demand, and that if at least four divers signed up then it would probably be scheduled, and that he would get back to us the next day. Since the two of us got the quota halfway there, we were optimistic. We also told him about our conversation with Marie-Claude when we dove with her through Aquatica about trying to get a manta ray dive in Bora Bora instead of the Table Top dive for which we were already pre-registered, and he told us that he would contact an outside dive operator in Bora Bora and try to arrange that for us as well. Our Bora Bora wave runner activity vouchers were already printed, so we picked those up, filled out the diving medical forms, and then went to the medical facility to get the doctor’s approval for us to dive. With all of the paperwork finally complete, I left a credit card imprint at the main desk for shipboard charges, and we went back to our suite to get ready for dinner.

Our first dinner on the ship was in the main dining room, Le Etoile, and as has been stated by so many people that have taken this cruise before, the food, wine, and service are all exceptional. We were seated with Tim and Beth from Virginia, and George and Lydia from France. As we all got to talking, I think that it was Beth that brought up the Luxury Cruise Travel website, where she is a “lurker”. When I told her my login name on LCT, she immediately recognized it, and said that she had read my posts. It’s a very small world.

The ship started to sail from port while we were still at dinner, so it looked as if we were going to miss the Captain’s introduction of the officers and staff on the pool deck, and the opening “bon voyage” party. Our wine glasses were still filled – in fact I think that it is almost impossible to have your wine glass stay empty on the Paul Gauguin – and we didn’t care, and jokingly told our excellent waiter, Floro, to contact the captain for us and tell him that we would be late, and to hold the party for us. Floro promptly picked up a large peppermill and using it as if it were a telephone against his ear, he proceeded to “call” the Captain to inform the Captain of our wishes.

We eventually did make it to the party around the pool and were promptly handed complimentary drinks while we listened to music from the ship’s house band, who were called “Picnic”, and hailed from Budapest, Hungary.

Sunday, September 19, 2004:

Breakfast had been ordered the night before from a standard form that had been left in our room, and Nengah delivered it personally right on time at about 7:15 AM. As expected, everything was great, and we got to enjoy the meal out on our verandah as we sailed by the island of Huahine and then made our way into the channel that separates Tahaa and Raiatea. Bora Bora was clearly visible in the distance. The table on the verandah has a special extension top that sits just inside the room by the sliding door until needed, and which makes dining out on the verandah very easy and comfortable.

After breakfast I stopped over to the activities desk and learned that we were confirmed for the Mushroom Patch dive later that afternoon, and our vouchers for the dive were already printed and waiting for us. The mandatory ship’s muster was at 10:00, and as is almost always the case with these things, despite very clear and specific instructions regarding the muster, some people always seem to go to the wrong place at the wrong time. Fortunately they didn’t keep the rest of us waiting too long.

At 11:00 the Children of Raiatea show was performed by the pool. The performers were all great, and the kids were extremely cute, as to be expected. The configuration of the ship unfortunately does not lend itself to top deck performances, as there is limited visibility to the performances pretty much from everywhere except the first row of seats. We had thought that sitting on the far side of the pool would be a good idea, until some people decided to sit on the front edge of the pool right in front of the performers, which of course then provides an obstructed view for EVERYONE except for themselves… Thus, my plan to videotape much of the show produced very little usable material from the raw footage. Excluding the obliviously inconsiderate passengers who didn’t seem to know that they were detracting from everyone else’s view, the show was worth seeing.

The dive gear was all packed into our respective dive bags before lunch so that we could enjoy a nice leisurely buffet meal at Le Grill before taking a tender to shore in Raiatea to meet up with the outside dive operator that would be taking us diving. That dive operator turned out to be a local Raiatea operation called Hemisphere Sub, and like Aquatica, they were great. There were 7 of us in total that would be diving – besides Eva and me were Victoria from Tahiti by way of Australia, Dick of Dick & Tami fame, a guy from California, and one other couple. The two dive masters from Hemisphere Sub were very French, very friendly, and very accommodating. We were loaded into a small jeep-like truck and transported from the dock to their dive shop where the dive boat was waiting to take us out through the Western channel to the open ocean on the outside of the reef.

The dive at Mushroom Patch itself was fabulous, and seems even better each time that I watch the video that I shot during the dive. The coral was healthy, dense, and more colorful than what we had seen in Tahiti, and the visibility was great. Immediately upon descending from the surface to the reef, our first shark was waiting to greet us at the bottom of the anchor line – a medium-sized white tip reef shark. During the dive we also saw several black tip reef sharks, moray eels, and many large schools of fish in addition to the large numbers of the “usual” reef fish. Our dive master found a large anemone that he pointed out to us that had a very protective anemone fish (Nemo!) hovering above and within it. We found out why it was so protective, as the dive master pointed out the numerous fish eggs that were sheltered within the anemone. Later in the dive our dive master gave me an all-too-rare opportunity to get on camera myself, as he took my rig to videotape Eva and I dancing under water.

On the dive boat as we were returning to the dive shop we were served some really tasty warm tea. We’ve never had warm team on a dive boat before – usually it’s just water – and the tea was refreshingly nice.

Since we had all been conditioned over the previous 24 hours to not carry anything much with us other than our room key/ID, none of us had enough cash or a credit card to buy t-shirts from Hemisphere Sub to commemorate the dive. We had no way of knowing that we would have even had such an opportunity, as we all assumed that we would be getting right into a dive boat at the main dock. The owner was gracious enough to let us each take a shirt and agree to have the money sent back to him through Normand (the Radisson activities director) the next week when the ships next cruise would bring them back to Raiatea in exactly 7 days time. Later back on the ship, we threw in a little extra cash into the envelope beyond the actual cost of the shirts, and gave the envelope to Normand after explaining the situation.

Everything that has been said about the ship’s own dive staff on the Radisson Paul Gauguin is true – they are marvelous. Upon our return from the dock at Raiatea to the ship, we took our dive bags to the ship’s marina, where Dominique from the dive staff told us that we could leave our gear safely there with them. He also said that they would care for it and set up everything for us when we would be doing our dives with them later in the week.

Back in our room, our complimentary liquor bottles had been delivered – a bottle of Myer’s Rum and a bottle of Stolichnaya Vodka, along with some fresh oranges that mixed just perfectly with each of them. Upon mentioning to Nengah that some pineapple juice would also mix well, along with our daily canapés at 5:00 PM some fresh pineapple juice miraculously appeared in our mini refrigerator in the suite. We enjoyed our drinks and snacks while watching the movie “South Pacific” from the ship’s in-room standard video movie schedule on the TV.

Those drinks were just to warm us up for the Captain’s reception in the Grand Salon before dinner, where the champagne was flowing freely as was anything else that anyone would want from the bar, including a perfect lemon drop martini for Eva. We ran into Dick and Tami at the reception, and finally had an opportunity to get to know each other over drinks, dinner at Le Etoile, and the ship’s main show for the evening which was a performance by Eric and Wendy back in the Grand Salon after dinner.

Monday, September 20, 2004:

Several people had posted web-based notes in the past regarding how scenic and serene the sail is from the ship’s anchorage in the lagoon between Raiatea and Tahaa around the West side of Tahaa to Motu Mahana off the North shore of Tahaa. They were understating it – the West and North coasts of Tahaa are pure unspoiled scenic paradise. The common advice had also been to reserve a starboard-side room on the ship and to order breakfast be delivered to your room to be enjoyed on the verandah at 7:00 AM just as this sail begins. It is also an understatement to say that these suggestions are well advised, as the scenery is simply tropical magic, and of course the food is fabulous. As we sailed by one particular harbor (!), there was a large dolphin pod that greeted us at the surface just outside the channel.

Prior to docking in the lagoon near Motu Mahana on the North side of Tahaa, we stopped down to the marina to pick up our masks, snorkels, and fins to do some snorkeling at the Motu. As soon as you step off of the tender at the Motu dock, you are greeted by Gauguines and a floating bar in the lagoon. On the Motu they were serving coconut water right out of the coconut husk, and you could mix it with whatever you wanted (like rum!...). We checked out the far side of the Motu and then decided to stake out some chairs along the main lagoon where the best snorkeling seemed to be. The lagoon was extremely shallow, but was much more interesting for snorkeling than we had expected it to be. There was not only a fairly wide variety of fish, but many feather duster worms and blue-lipped clams. We encountered a juvenile rock mover wrasse, and an almost but not quite adult rock mover wrasse at the same coral head. In addition to lots of staghorn-like coral there was an unusual volume of bright purple coral. We stayed in the water snorkeling for about an hour.

The main bar on the Motu had now also been set up for a BBQ lunch, and of course the food was great, particularly the seafood skewers with some Thai peanut sauce, the mahi mahi, and the salads. Being able to drink Bahama Mamas out of full coconut husks with the meal (and afterwards) was great too. Our waiter Floro (from dinner the first night) kept the coconuts coming as we were joined by Victoria, her husband Frederick, her brother James, and three cruisers from South Carolina.

Around 2:30 or so I noticed that there seemed to be some tiny mosquito-like insects that came out of nowhere and were chomping my lower legs around the ankles, and soon learned that these are called “no nos”, and that this is a normal daily occurrence. As we looked around, it seemed that almost everyone was also suddenly under attack from the no nos. We decided to head back to the ship, but only after checking out some of the local crafts that the native Tahaa’ians had set out on some tables at the South end of the Motu, and we bought Eva a very nice necklace made with black pearls and mother of pearl. I used the local cfp currency instead of US dollars, and actually would have received a better deal if I had used dollars.

We took the tender back to the ship and hung out by the pool for bit, enjoying the spectacular view of all of the pristine motus across the lagoon (there were maybe a dozen or more of them). I don’t know that I’ve ever seen so many coconut palm trees. At 5:00 PM Nengah brought our in-room appetizers of the day which were some fresh garden vegetables with blue cheese and Russian dressing. These were accompanied by our in-room rum and vodka, mixed with fresh pineapple juice and fresh squeezed lime juice. Ah yes, we were sipping tropical drinks, munching on appetizers, and watching an unbelievably ultra-bright orange sunset just to the west of Bora Bora in the distance. I videotaped the sunset over the water hoping to possibly see or record a “green flash”, but it was merely a beautiful sunset, without a “green flash”.

This evening’s dinner was our special reservation at the recreation of the menu from the Paris restaurant Apicius, which is overseen by a 3-star Michelin chef. As expected, the food, wine, and service were all exceptional. Items of particular note included a papaya & mango soup, lobster dim sum, risotto, tuna carpaccio, duck with foi gras, mahi mahi, grilled pineapple with pepper ice cream, and of course some excellent champagne and wine. This meal was an event! After dinner we picked up some photos of us that had been shot by the ship’s photographer, and called it a night.

Tuesday, September 21, 2004:

The ship had obviously already started sailing for Bora Bora before we awoke, but we did get up in time to see our approach through the lone channel in the reef into the Bora Bora lagoon on the West side of the island. There were some big waves crashing against the outer reef, and quite a few very attractive over water bungalows at resorts along the protected inner lagoon out on the motus. Our breakfast was served (of course) on our verandah, and this morning we had some particularly tasty omelettes.

By 8:00 AM we were down at the ship’s marina to pick up our dive gear to then take a tender to the main dock in Vaitape to meet up with our dive operator for the manta valley dive – Bora Diving Center. They were waiting at the dock for us, and soon had us and our gear loaded on to their dive boat, and we were off across the lagoon for the far side of the island. Victoria’s husband Frederick and her brother James were along so it was to be just the five of us doing the dive, but Frederick was having a bit of congestion problems so he decided to skip the dive and it was just the four of us with our own dive master. Camile from the Paul Gauguin dive staff had set up this dive for us instead of the ship’s own scheduled dive at Table Top so that we would have a reasonable chance of being able to dive with the famous manta rays that are often found at this site. We were very pleased and impressed with Bora Diving Center and would love to dive with them again – and not just because they dive in Bora Bora...

The dive begins with a gradual descent down a gently sloping wall to about 60 feet of depth. The visibility was a bit less than many of the other dive sites but that’s the price to pay for being in the middle of lots of floating plankton that attract the hungry mantas. We saw quite a few fish, but no mantas for 35 minutes. I still had plenty of air, but I had not carried as much weight for this dive as I probably should have as my tank was getting used, so just as I was trying my best to stay down a magnificent manta ray finally appeared along the wall, heading right for us! I went head down, fins up, and paddled my way straight down to set up at a vantage point as deep as possible to be able to get some video and photos of the manta. The manta did not disappoint us, as it took a slow and steady swim right in front of us, then turned around and came right back in front of us again for a second pass. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear that it was smiling for the camera, and the video came out great.

After the dive we were able to take our dive gear right back to the ship’s marina where it was quickly rinsed and hung to dry so that we could get in a quick lunch buffet of pasta and salads at Le Grill over stories of manta rays before taking a tender back to Vaitape for our circle island wave runner excursion.

Back again at the Vaitape dock we were loaded into a small bus and driven down to the southwestern point of Bora Bora for a quick wave runner briefing, and then were shown to our wave runners that were waiting for us in the water just off of the beach. We were divided into two groups of four wave runners, with each group having its own guide. Our guide was a native Tahitian with a broad and infectious smile named Kippi.

Eva and I were the only couple that had reserved our own wave runners rather than riding two people on one wave runner. This turned out to be a good decision, as when we made our first stop at a shallow sandbar in the middle of the lagoon, all of the “passengers” on the other wave runners were doing a little bit of complaining to their “drivers” about the impact of not being able to adjust or control the ride from the back seat.

The water at the sandbar was as shallow as only 4 inches in spots, and while we took a break there Kippi ran off on one of the wave runners to a nearby motu to collect some coconuts. We then got to run the wave runners at full-throttle (yee ha!) around the East side of the island toward one of the outer barrier reef motus, where we stopped for a coconut demonstration.

As some coconut husks burned nearby to “keep the no nos away” (and it worked), Kippi explained how coconuts are used for an amazing variety of things in French Polynesia in all three of their phases whether young, medium, or old. The young coconut of course has lots of coconut water (there is nothing better in the entire universe to drink than chilled coconut water) and coconut jelly, the medium coconut has more firm coconut meat (perfect for shredding and eating) and very little coconut water, and the old coconut has the tasty dry fiber-like “coconut bread”.

Kippi demonstrated how to climb a coconut tree “monkey style”, and then shredded some fresh coconut using a pointed stick. This freshly shredded coconut was then to be eaten along with some small freshly split honey bananas that were just picked. There is simply nothing more delicious in the history of food than half of a small honey banana covered in freshly shredded coconut that is consumed on a beautiful tropical motu near Bora Bora. Does it get any better than this? No, it does not.

Kippi had a particularly refreshing and insightful view to life. He said “Look around you – everything that you need to live a safe, happy, and healthy life is all around you here, growing for free – you don’t need money, and you don’t need stores.” The more that I thought about his comments, the more I realized that he was right, and his ever-present smile started to also make sense. We got back onto our wave runners for the final leg around the Southern tip of Bora Bora and back to the beach. The wave runner tour was lots of fun. If you visit Bora Bora, do this.

The bus was waiting to take us back to the dock for a tender back to the ship where our 5:00 PM appetizers were waiting for us, and soon I had mixed some drinks to go with them. We also attended a pareau tying demonstration by the pool before dinner that was being taught by a couple of the Gauguines, and I was very glad that I did not need to be the volunteer to be fitted for the lone male style pareau wrap.

We had dinner with Wendy & Eric, the ship’s entertainers, and they were very interesting to talk with and very nice people. They had met as separate cruise line performers each with their own show and style, became a team, and then subsequently got married. There was also a couple at our table with one spouse originally from Minnesota, but now in Los Angeles. There was some sort of ship’s party by the pool after dinner (as always), so we had some lemon drop Martinis and listened to the ship’s band, Picnic.

When we got back to our room there was a note that I had forgotten to put the delivery time for the next morning’s breakfast on our room service form, so we took care of that and then ran into our room attendant, Sofia. It turns out that Sofia has been considering learning to dive on the ship (with much prodding from other staff members) so we showed here some of the dive video footage of the manta ray that I had filmed that morning as a motivator for her to start dive training on a future cruise.

Wednesday September 22, 2004:

As usual our breakfast arrived at exactly the appointed time (as submitted late the night before), and we enjoyed it with yet another beautiful sunny French Polynesian morning on our verandah.

When we arrived at the ship’s marina our dive gear had already been set up for us and was being loaded onto the zodiacs for our morning dive at Tapu. Tapu is a popular dive site located just outside of the reef close to the lone channel that leads from the ocean into the Bora Bora lagoon. There were eight of us diving, and as there was a group of five that wanted to stay together, Eva and I would be in a group of three with only one other diver in addition to Camile who would be our dive master.

Almost immediately upon our descent at Tapu we were greeted by a gigantic and curious Napoleon wrasse. Later in the dive we encountered two other Napoleon wrasses. The big deal on this dive however was sharks - lots of sharks. They were mostly black tip reef sharks that passed us by gracefully swimming from all sides, but also a couple of huge lemon sharks. I was able to get some great underwater video footage and still photos on this dive. We even saw a small yellow submarine that was providing some non-divers with a dry view of the reef and aquatic life. Camile had seen the submarine preparing to submerge as we had approached the dive site, so he advised us that (insert French accent here) “eef you see a yellow submarine while diving, eet ees OK, you are not on LSD”. There were also several other dive boats at Tapu. Near the end of the dive we passed through a section that had some significant reef surge, and it was kind of fun to let the surge push you one way, and then bring you back the other way in a steady smooth rhythm. It was incredibly convenient to be able to return directly to the Paul Gauguin from our Zodiac after the dive and to be able to leave all of the dive equipment with the staff at the marina.

As we returned to our room it was still being cleaned, so we hung out on the top deck by the pool for while to let them finish before returning to shower and change before taking a tender into Vaitape.

Having heard so much about the famous tropical bar and restaurant “Bloody Mary’s”, we figured that he had to stop in at least for lunch and drinks. We were able to get on Le Truck right next to the dock and it took us directly to the front entrance to Bloody Mary’s by the road. You pay for the ride as you get off at your stop.

Bloody Mary’s appears to have been constructed entirely out of parts and pieces from coconut palm trees. The floor is sand, and the stools, tables, and structure were all made from coconut palms. The roof and walls were all made from coconut palm thatch. Since we were there for a late lunch, there were very few other people in the place, and it felt almost private. The service, food, and drinks were all top notch – we will certainly need to come back again some day for dinner!

Although Bloody Mary’s is known for their seafood, we could not pass up the opportunity to order their “Jimmy Buffett Cheeseburger” and thus dine on a true “Cheeseburger in Paradise”. We each had a signature Bloody Mary, followed by some Hinano beer. During dessert we were joined by Bloody Mary’s resident friendly white fluffy cat, named Katty, who persuaded us to let her have the last of an ice cream bowl. The men’s room had an interesting accessory – a large wooden carved phallus as the pull handle for the urinal.

After lunch we bought some souvenir Bloody Mary’s t-shirts to bring home. Some entrepreneurial locals who saw us standing by the road near the entrance offered to drive us back to Vaitape for $3.00 and we accepted, although two passengers from the Princess cruise lines ship Tahitian Princess (which was also at anchor in the lagoon) declined the ride when they found out that they could not use their ship’s vouchers for the ride.

Just as we boarded the tender back to the ship from the dock in Vaitape, a gentle light brief rain began. This would be the only rain that we would see in the entire two weeks.

We had been invited to attend a special champagne reception for those celebrating either a wedding or an anniversary, in the Grand Salon. There were many couples there, and Steve the cruise director commented that it might be a record crowd. We ran into Dick and Tami (who were celebrating their wedding), and George and Lydia (who were celebrating their anniversary – from last spring – but hey, it’s free champagne!). After the reception Dick and Tami joined us in La Pallette for another drink before dinner.

This was our second special reservation dinner, this time in the Pacific Grill restaurant on deck 8. Just after we were seated, we saw George and Lydia walk in (obviously without a reservation), and when we saw the maitre d’ scrambling to try and find a table for them (there weren’t any) we invited them to join us at our table for dinner. The food was excellent as always, and the Poisson Cru was particularly outstanding. The Poisson Cru had been offered as an additional appetizer that was not on the menu. For dessert we had bananas flambé with coconut ice cream, yum!

The show in the Grand Salon after dinner was called “Tahitian Showtime”, and it was basically an opportunity for Les Gauguines to show off their talents in Tahitian singing, Tahitian dance, and their mastery of the art of being Tahitian eye candy - you know, their talents… ;-) There were quite a few sleepy old folks at the show, but I was certainly not one of them. As the show was on, we set sail from Bora Bora for the island of Moorea.

Thursday, September 23, 2004:

This was the morning that we slept in the latest of any day during the trip – until 8:30 AM. It was another beautiful clear sunny day that gave us great views as we sailed into Cook’s Bay in Moorea.

We soon headed down to the marina for our morning dive at The Ledges, where we would be joined by Victoria and her brother James with Camile serving again as our dive master. Again we had the convenience of going straight to the dive site by zodiac from the ship’s marina.

At the bottom of the mooring line there were several huge moray eels who seemed quite accustomed to divers. The dive itself took us over and around several large coral ridges that were separated by canyons. We saw many black tip reef sharks in addition to all of the usual reef fish, and near the end of the dive Victoria found a spot fin lionfish hiding under a ledge. After the dive we gleefully left our dive gear with the staff at the marina, and joined Victoria, Frederick, and James for an outstanding extended late lunch outdoors at La Verandah.

The lunch buffet at La Verandah had an Asian theme, and highlights included some excellent sushi, sashimi, and dim sum, in addition to delicacies from virtually every major Asian country. We leisurely consumed many bottles of Bourgogne white wine, and then had some chocolate covered bananas for dessert. All the while we enjoyed the spectacular views of Cook’s Bay as the ship slowly and randomly rotated around its anchor line in the middle of the bay.

OK – reality check time – let’s consider the situation – We’ve just completed a fabulous tropical dive with eels, sharks, and lionfish in Moorea, and now we’re sitting outside on a private area on a deck of the Radisson Paul Gauguin with some fun people having a very casual long lunch comprised of unlimited amounts of gourmet Asian cuisine, while drinking from an unlimited supply of excellent French wine, while being visually treated to the views of Cook’s Bay in Moorea as seen from the center of the bay. Life is good. Life is VERY, VERY, VERY good.

Late in the afternoon while Eva stayed to relax in a deck chair on deck 8, I attended a lecture and presentation on dolphins and whales by famous dolphin and whale researcher (and Moorea resident) Dr. Poole. It was interesting and entertaining, but I don’t know that I agree with everything that he presented, having personally snorkeled and been diving with wild dolphins and whales on multiple occasions.

We had dinner in Le Etoile and then enjoyed the final show of the cruise by Eric and Wendy in the Grand Salon. For one skit, Eric managed to get Tami up on stage to be part of the show (and she was perfect for the part – and hilarious!).

Friday, September 24, 2004:

Like the usual clockwork, our breakfast on our verandah was delivered as requested at 6:30 AM sharp, and as always it was tasty. This morning we would be diving at a dive site very close to The Ledges where we had been the day before, but as if we hadn’t seen enough sharks already, this dive site was called Shark Gallery. Both The Ledges and Shark Gallery are just outside the reef in front of Opunohu Bay.

Finally Frederick was feeling up to doing a dive, so our dive group would be Frederick, Victoria, James, Eva, and me. Camile would once more be our dive master. As we approached the dive site in the zodiac, a whale fluke was spotted in the distance.

Immediately upon entering the water it was obvious from where this dive site had received its name, as we counted 14 sharks around us, some of them almost up to the water’s surface. At the very end of the dive as Eva and Victoria were doing their safety stop, Victoria counted 24 sharks at once. During the dive there were indeed many sharks, again mostly black tip reef sharks, but also a large lemon shark with a scar on the left side. There were many fish of many varieties, and near the end of the dive Victoria found two anemone fish (Nemo!) in a large anemone. A huge school of banner fish made for some good video (in addition to all of the sharks). My favorite video clip from this dive shows Eva smiling and cheerily waving to the camera as unknown to her there are eight sharks circling just behind her.

Although this would be our last dive with the ship, we left our gear to dry in the marina after the dive so that we didn’t have to drag wet dive gear back to the suite. After some brief sun and relaxation on deck 9, we met Victoria, Frederick, and James for yet another truly decadent extended lunch at La Verandah at our “usual” table. Today it was an International Buffet, and of course everything (including the Bourgogne Aligote wine) was delicious.

Eva and I had to leave at 3:00 PM for a private tour of the ship’s bridge that Nengah had arranged for us. The ship’s mate conducted the tour, and it was very obvious that he was truly enjoying his work in French Polynesia as compared to his home in Scandinavia.

We went straight from the bridge to the marina to pick up our dive gear and bring it back to our room, where at 5:00 PM Nengah brought us some shrimp cocktails that were enjoyed with some liquid cocktails on our verandah. Soon the ship weighed anchor and we were on our way back to Tahiti.

Just as we passed the Northeast corner of Moorea, we spotted two whale spouts from our verandah off the starboard side. The sun was setting as we headed for port in Papeete, and as if it were possible for the sunsets to get any better than what we had already been seeing since we had arrived, this was a particularly unbelievably colorful sunset this evening.

We went over by the pool area where the Gauguines were performing as we entered the harbor and prepared to dock – but this was not to be just any ordinary docking. We were to be the very first ship to dock at a brand new large ship pier that had been constructed on the waterfront in Papeete, and in celebration of the event there was a ribbon cutting, speeches, and of course traditional Tahitian entertainment – dancing, singing, drumming, fire torches, etc. - right on the pier. The Vice President of Tahiti attended personally, and we had the best views in the house from deck 8 on the ship.

Before dinner we had been invited to join all of the other divers on the cruise along with the ship’s dive staff for a Diver’s Party in La Pallette. There was a computer set up that was running a loop of diving photos, and we had drinks and appetizers while Camile and Dominique signed and stamped dive logs.

By the time that we got down to Le Etoile to have dinner with Dick and Tami there was a 40 minute wait, so we put in our name and went back up to La Pallette for more drinks, but the wait turned out to be only about 15 minutes and the four of us were seated by the entrance at a table for four.

When we were done with dinner (about 10:30 PM), it was so late that the show in the Grand Salon was already over. Since it was our last night and bags needed to be outside of our door for pickup in only a few hours, we went back to our room to start packing. While we were packing the Mel Gibson version of The Bounty was showing on one of the ship’s movie channels on the TV. It had been filmed in Moorea, and the distinctive peaks that surround Cook’s Bay and Opunohu Bay in Moorea were clearly visible in background shots, and well preserved in our memories from us having been in the same spots shown in the film earlier that same day. Miraculously, we finished packing just in time to get our bags out by the designated time, and then got some sleep.

Saturday, September 25, 2004:

We were up at 6:40 AM for our last breakfast on the verandah, and it was truly a final feast comprised of eggs Benedict, French toast, banana pancakes, bacon, croissants, muesli, fresh fruit, and more. I dropped off our comment and rating from (with nothing but very high marks and superlatives for RSSC!) at the reception area, and then we carried our hand baggage to the Grand Salon on deck 5 to await our turn to disembark.

It seemed that each color-coded group of people to disembark each had passengers from ONE room that for some reason were not there on time, and were holding up everyone in that group. We were in the “salmon” group that would be going by ferry to another island, and although we were told to be in the Grand Salon by 8:00 (which we were) for an 8:15 disembarkation and greeting on the pier at 8:30 for a 9:00 ferry to Moorea, we did not get off of the ship until 8:35. Fortunately, wed did not have far to go (about 100 yards) to the ferry dock, and our bus ride lasted all of maybe 30 seconds. Thus, we made our 9:00 ferry (which did leave on time) with time to spare despite having to exchange our vouchers for ferry tickets. The ferry staff saw the situation, and being obviously accustomed to doing this every week, they expedited our voucher transfers and quickly loaded all of the ferry luggage into huge metal containment bins to be loaded onto the ferry.

We sailed across the Sea of Moons back to Moorea on the very-modern and spacious Aramati 5 ferry. Our bags were in the very last bin unloaded, and the bags were then transferred into the cargo hold of an air conditioned bus for our ride to the Intercontinental Beachcomber Resort in Moorea. Along the way we stopped at the tiny Moorea airport, and to drop off some cruise passengers that were staying at the Moorea Pearl Resort. Our ride took us completely around both Cook’s Bay and Opunohu Bay before arriving at the Intercontinental Beachcomber just before 11:00.

We had to wait in the lobby for about 45 minutes as the staffed was checking out departing guests before they could get to those of us that had just come in from the cruise and would be checking in. Prior to the trip I had requested information about this resort on the web to try to learn which over water bungalow units were the best. I had been told to ask for either unit #614 or #514, and had put this request into my reservation. As it turned out, we would indeed be getting bungalow #514, but unfortunately the previous guests were late in checking out, so we would have to wait a while before we could get in. We left our bags at the front entrance, and had lunch outside by the pool while we waited for the bungalow to become available.

The lunch was very nice, especially my mahi mahi sandwich. Obviously a nearby feral cat thought so too, as it immediately came over to be very friendly and gleefully accept any scraps or even water that we could give it. Soon two other feral cats came over as well, although they were a little more cautious than the first cat. We named the first cat Tiare, and we named the others Ti and Mahi. Tiare was so happy to be getting food and water from us that after she was done, she stayed with us just to rest in the shade, be petted, and purr, as the two other cats took off to try and get scraps from other tables.

At 12:30 I checked on our bungalow at the front desk but it was still not quite ready, as a few no nos attacked my ankles in the open air lobby. At 1:00 the bungalow was finally ready, and it was worth waiting for. In fact, as the desk clerk handed me the key, her comment was (insert French accent here) “bungalow #514 –zat ees zee best in zee entire resort, eets a very nice!”

She was correct. We were driven to the bungalow along with our luggage on a golf cart, and saw that it was the very last bungalow on the end of the longest extended over water dock at the resort. Thus, we would have a completely unobstructed view over the lagoon, and have the best access to the best snorkeling at the entire resort right off of our bungalow’s deck. The bungalow itself was beautiful, and at least 50% larger than the over water bungalow that we had been in on Tahiti when we had first arrived 11 days ago.

The trade winds were blowing particularly strong, and were making what otherwise was a very hot day seem very comfortable instead. It was also making the surface of the water rather rough, and limiting our ability to really see into the water and the reef clearly from our deck. We unpacked, and tried to figure out what all of the many switches in the bungalow controlled. We never did figure out what a couple of them were for.

After we settled in and simply enjoyed the view for a while, we went over to the local dive shop that operated from within the resort - Bathy’s Club. We signed up for one last dive on the trip - a single dive for the next morning - since we just couldn’t get the “dive bug” out of our systems quite yet.

I soon got yet another aspect of appreciation for the simplicity of French Polynesia. I had run out of aspirin from the small packet that I had brought with us, and assumed that I could buy some from the resort’s shop, since this was the largest resort on Moorea. Wrong, they didn’t carry aspirin, and the nearest place where I could possibly buy aspirin was at a small pharmacy that was located about 5 miles away next door to one of the few doctors on the island. And how does someone get there? By having someone from the hotel drive me over in a personal car, and wait while I buy the aspirin. The pharmacy did not have any conventional aspirin tablets in staock (you read that right – the only pharmacy did not have aspirin tablets in stock), but did have some French 1000mg large dissolvable aspirin tablets (sort of like an alka seltzer tablet) that was actually quite nice, with a label entirely in French. I wish that I could buy this stuff in the US, it had a pleasant lemon taste and worked quite well.

We spent the rest of the afternoon just lounging on our bungalow deck fully enjoying the shear beauty and simplicity of waves, water, sky, sun, and wind, with nowhere to go and nothing to do.

Near sunset I walked up to the main building to make dinner reservations at a restaurant that had received several recommendations – Les Tipaniers. When I came back I found that Eva had flooded the floor by the shower and bathroom until she had figured out how the drain worked. We watched the dolphins at the resort’s Dolphin encounter area from our deck as the nearly–full moon rose over the water to the East just as the sun was setting behind some coconut palm trees to the West. We could also see some divers that were doing a night dive at the edge of the outer reef where there was a channel out to the open ocean. It was a very strange sight seeing flashlights that came from under the water that were shining beams upward or across the water from below.

Since there are so few restaurants, resorts, roads, and cars on Moorea, when you make a restaurant reservation it is customary for the restaurant to send over a car to pick you up, bring you to their restaurant, and then bring you back to your resort after dinner. The bartender from Les Tipaniers came to pick us up, and basically if someone wanted a drink from the bar while she was coming to get us, I suppose that they would have had to wait for it. This is Island time.

The food at Les Tipaniers was typical of every meal that we had eaten in French Polynesia – it was excellent. At Les Tipaniers the food is not only excellent, but the portions were huge. The portions were so huge in fact that our marvelous Tahitian waitress had talked us out of ordering some items as she told us that it was “too much food”. She also mock threatened with a smile that “I’ll have to get the chef out to talk to you. You will have no room for this salad!” She was right, as we couldn’t even come close to finishing all of what we did order, which was less than what we had asked to order, including our wine.

We had been lucky to have chosen to go to Les Tipaniers for dinner on the one night out of very two weeks that a performer named “Ron” performed vocals and music by autoharp. His set list included material by Simon & Garfunkel, Cat Stevens, The Beatles, The Moody Blues, Santana, and Louis Armstrong, and it was appropriately mellow yet sincere.

After dinner we almost needed winches to load us back into the car - and I’m not really sure that they didn’t use winches - and the bartender drove us back to the resort where we watched the nearly-full moon over the water before getting some sleep.

Sunday, September 26, 2004:

We were up at 6:45 AM for our morning dive with Bathy’s Club, and since we had been spoiled by having the Radisson Paul Gauguin dive staff deal with our dive gear the previous week, we called to the main building to have them send a cart to take us and our dive gear over to the Bathy’s Club building by the dock. It was no problem at all, and the cart was at our door in about two minutes and took us and our dive bags to the dive dock

There would be six other divers going out with us on the dive boat, but only four other divers in our group as the other two were taking a class. The dive site was called Opunohu Canyon #2, but it was very close to both The Ledges and Shark Gallery dive sites where we had been the previous week. We were told to keep an eye out for a very friendly turtle that frequents this dive site named “Janine”. Our French dive master said that she is named Janine because “Janine is Ninja, backwards”. Maybe it is in French….

In addition to our dive master and the other four divers, there was a also a diver affiliated with Bathy’s Club that would be videotaping the dive with a Sony miniDV camera and a housing that was about twice the size of my Mako housing. This was a good thing, as I forgot to flip on the color correcting lens during the dive, and I also forgot to take the lens cap off before I started the descent, so I simply stuffed the flexible rubber lens cap into my wet suit during the dive. All of this forgetfulness - I must have had too much to eat the night before or something…

On the dive we saw lots of sharks (of course), and a hawksbill turtle. We also saw (and videotaped) the very same lemon shark with the scar on her side that we had seen a few days earlier when diving nearby. Back at the dock at the end of the dive we also saw a spotted eagle ray.

The staff from Bathy’s club did some things to put both Eva and me off quite a bit. Since Eva and I both dive with BC vests that use integrated weight pouches and also have space for non-removable weights, we don’t use traditional weight belts when diving. Not only did the Bathy’s Club staff comment and complain about how much weight we were both diving with (which was exactly 5% of body weight for both of us – the dead-on normal and typical weight for most divers), but they complained about the weight in the non-removable compartments when lifting her BC into the boat. This was despite the fact that Eva had actually removed and passed up her weighted dive pouches before climbing back into the dive boat, and THEY were the ones that wanted the BCs passed back in rather than worn by us when climbing back in (which we would not have had a problem with). I was thinking to myself as one dive master muttered about the overall weight of her BC as he lifted it that “hey, buddy, I’m twice your age, I don’t do this for a living, and I have no problem (or complaints) lifting that BC for her all the time, usually when it’s FULLY loaded with weights!” The other dive master then bragged about how little weight he used (I believe he claimed to dive with none! Yeah, right…) and how that helped him conserve so much more air. He shut up really quickly when Eva showed him the pressure gauge on her console and he realized that she had used less air than he did on the dive that they both had just completed, even with “all that weight”. To put this into perspective, on the zodiacs that we were diving from with the Paul Gauguin, everyone was also told to remove their BCs before climbing into the zodiac, and since we had the integrated weights in our BCs we asked them if they would like us to remove the weight pouches before handing up the BCs to which Normand responded “No, there is no need, you can just pass them over with the weights still in.” Normand from RSSC did not complain nor appear to have any problem at all dealing with a fully-loaded BC…

After rinsing our dive gear and loading it back into the dive bags, we purchased a copy of their video footage on DVD (to be picked up later, after copies could be made). We called for a cart to take us back to the bungalow with our dive bags, and it was there in about one minute.

Since we were already in bathing suits, we did a little snorkeling at the reef just off of our bungalow’s deck. A vertical ladder took us directly into the water from the main deck level. Today the water was much calmer than it had been the day before, and we could now clearly see the reef and coral outcroppings well defined in the water, as well as zillions of fish.

There were some coral patches directly around our bungalow, but then there was a deep channel that separated the area by the bungalows from a much larger reef structure on the opposite side of the channel, about thirty feet away. The snorkeling was surprisingly good, and there were lots of fish. At one point Eva accidentally encountered and startled a gigantic green moray eel in open water, and it would be difficult to determine who was more frightened.

We spent the entire day sitting on the deck enjoying the unbelievably soothing views, as well as some occasional kite boarders that would come by in the channel. While we did not even bother to get out for lunch, we did have some Bloody Mary’s made with the Stolichnaya vodka from the cruise and some tomato juice from our mini-bar, a couple of beers, and some snacks. Probably we were just still full from dinner at Les Tipaniers. I didn't even make it to the dive shop by 5:00 PM to pick up the dive DVD, so I would need to do that tomorrow. I did however manage to drop off some laundry at the front desk, and to check out the other over water bungalows. We indeed did appear to have the best location in the entire resort with unit #514, while the bungalows themselves were all identical.

Near sunset we observed a very unusual activity – there were wild dolphins somewhere out in the channel that were clicking and squeaking to the captive dolphins at the resort’s dolphin encounter area, and the captive dolphins were talking back to them! The sunset was the usual – spectacular – and again the almost-full moon was huge and bright, and cast a brilliant silver light over the lagoon.

We had dinner at the resort’s own main restaurant called Fare Nui, and the food and service were excellent (of course). After dinner as we were walking back along the beach to our bungalow we encountered another feral cat that seemed to be trying to extract droplets of water from a spigot. Seeing this, we turned on the spigot so that the kitty could get a real drink of water with more appropriate freshness and volume. It wasted no time in drinking the water that we had provided for it, and it seemed very grateful. Back on our deck, there were dozens of soldier fish and squirrel fish that stayed just outside the beam of the spotlights that shone down into the water from behind our dock, waiting for smaller critters to be attracted to the light so that they could then gobble them up as the slight current took them just outside the brightest area.

Monday September 27, 2004:

We awoke to find that the trade winds had completely calmed, making the surface of the water as flat and transparent as glass. This gave us an incredible view into the now crystal-clear water to see the aquatic life around the coral and the reef by the deck of our bungalow. This included a spectacular giant crown of thorns sea star that was living directly in front of our deck in the shallow water, and over the next two days would never travel more than about five feet in any direction from the bottom of our ladder into the water.

Despite our packages at both resorts including a full breakfast buffet, this was the first morning that we actually made it to the breakfast buffet. It was set up in the main open air restaurant where we had dinner the night before – Fare Nui. The food was plentiful and it was, of course, delicious. As Eva finished her breakfast I ran over to Bathy’s Club to pick up the dive DVD, and also to buy some silver charms of a manta ray and a female scuba diver for Eva, and a t-shirt for myself. I also bought some large bottles of water for us to take on our island jeep safari this morning. I had arranged the island safari through the resort’s concierge.

There were two other couples on the safari with us, and we all sat on two small benches that were across from each other in the covered open air cargo area of a land rover. The first stop on our tour was at a pineapple plantation, where there were also papayas growing, and the wild remnants of sugar cane. We then stopped at a large farm that specialized in vanilla, and we were shown how the vanilla plants were grown and how the vanilla flowers were fertilized to make vanilla beans. The views along the entire route were awesome. There was one last stop before heading up into the mountains at a farm stand that sold fruit jams, and offered us samples of all of them.

The road up the mountain became twistier with multiple switchbacks, and ended at a spot called Belvedere which offers the best easily accessible view on the island, and it was breathtaking. As you look to the North from Belvedere, Mt. Rotui is directly in front. To the right of Mt. Rotui is a clear view of Cook’s Bay, and to the left of Mt. Rotui is a clear view of Opunohu Bay. To the extreme left are views of a jagged mountain ridge that include a peak that has been used to represent “Bali Hai” in a movie version of “South Pacific”, and to the right are mountain peaks that have been prominent in a movie version of “Mutiny on the Bounty”. This is simply a spectacular spot for panoramic scenic views. Eva did her best impersonation of Julie Andrews from “The Sound Of Music” as she spun around in a clearing.

On the way down the mountain road we stopped at one of the larger and better preserved Maraes where sacrifices of both people and animals were once performed by the native Tahitians. We were told that many Tikis were once inside this in the Marae. We then continued down the mountainside toward Cook’s Bay passing a very large pineapple plantation and arriving at a fruit distillery where we were able to sample various local fruit liquors. We bought some pineapple liquor, vanilla rum, and fresh pineapple juice in addition to some other miscellaneous goodies. As we continued back around Cook’s Bay heading to the East, we stopped briefly at the tiny airport and then to take in the view on the East side of the island over the Sofitel resort. The over water bungalows at the Sofitel all sit in the middle of a very turquoise lagoon. We continued along the waterfront road to take an unpaved road that led to a waterfall view, but without any rain the waterfall was not running.

Back at the intersection of the dirt road and the waterfront road we stopped at a small building where we were offered some drinks, Tahitian fruit, coconut, taro, and other snacks, and given an opportunity to shop for some local crafts. We then traveled completely around the South side of the island and back to the Intercontinental Beachcomber coming back in from the opposite direction from which we had left that morning.

Since it was yet another perfect beautiful day, we again spent the entire afternoon on the back deck of our bungalow, enjoying the view and the weather, and sipping the Myers rum still left from the cruise with the fresh pineapple juice that we had just bought. In addition to our usual rainbow mass of reef fish fluttering just below us, a huge stingray passed by, and the crown of thorns sea star stayed close to our ladder.

Eva decided to do one last snorkel around the reef by our bungalow. Almost as soon as she entered the water as approached the nearest coral cluster, she yelled back that she thinks that she had possibly found a lion fish. I quickly put the camera back into the underwater housing, gathered my mask, snorkel, and fins, and joined her in the water. Just as I started videotaping what indeed appeared to be a spot fin lionfish, she exclaimed that there were “two!” Sure enough, right next to the first lion fish that she had spied was a second lionfish, even larger. I shot some video and photos of the lionfish and our crown of thorns sea star, and then did another quick tour around the reef, accompanied by many fish. After snorkeling, it was time to again hang out on the deck sipping rum and pineapple juice and do nothing more than watch all the fish, the waves, and the occasional kite boarder. Eva has obviously become quite the exotic fish finder, and soon identified a very large stonefish that had come to rest in the coral and rocks below our deck. Stonefish are known for their amazing camouflage ability, and it is almost impossible to see a resting stonefish on a reef, but Eva found it, and I got some great video of it when it finally decided to move.

Since this would be our final dinner of the trip in French Polynesia, I went to see the concierge about suggesting a suitable restaurant for the evening for dinner at about 8:00 PM. There was a couple from California that were monopolizing the concierge’s time with many trivial (and inappropriate for a concierge) requests that were taking forever, as a line formed behind me of guests waiting to see the concierge. Upon seeing this, the desk manager came over to ask if he could be of assistance to any of us for dinner reservations, as he correctly assumed that this was why all of the rest of us were in line, as opposed to the couple from California that were asking about getting flights changed, rental car reservations changed, activities changed, the weather changed, their underwear changed, etc. I told him “Oui, Si vous plais!”, and he promptly came over to assist me. He first suggested Les Tipaniers, but I told him that we had already been there two nights ago. He then thought of another restaurant in Cook’s Bay, but said that they usually only do two dinner sittings and that the early one would be too early for us, and the late one might be too late. He then asked if we like seafood, to which I replied “Oui!”, so he then stated that we should dine at Le Plantation which he said (insert outrageous French accent here) “you vill like it, eeets a very nice!” I thanked him for his help as he took care of our reservation, and our transportation.

Once again, the opinion that “eeets a very nice!” was a correct assessment. It was not only “very nice”, it was fabulous. The restaurant manager came by car to pick us up and bring us to the restaurant which was West of our resort. We had a fun Polynesian waitress, and great food and wine. We sat in an open air terrace along the road, but even though this is the only main road on the island, an occasional car would come by maybe every 5 to 10 minutes or so at this end of the island. While my Coquilles St. Jacque was tasty, Eva ordered the really good stuff – foi gras for an appetizer, and then the best dish on the menu – Mahi Mahi with chorizo, peppers, and what was called an au gratin sauce, but was more like a “yummy delicious I’ve never tasted anything quite this good” sauce.

After dinner the manager drove us back to the resort where the huge full moon was shining in all of its glory, and turning the water bright silver. It was probably the most beautiful moon that I’ve ever seen. Well, actually it’s probably the one and the same moon that I’ve always seen, but it sure looks much better over a lagoon in Moorea. With a bit of sadness that we would have to be leaving, we started to pack for the trip home.

Tuesday, September 28, 2004:

We finished packing in the morning and went up to Fare Nui in the main building for the breakfast buffet. Eva snuck back some goodies to feed our fish from the deck, and then we said goodbye to all of our fish buddies, and to our giant crown of thorns sea star that was hanging out about two feet from where we had last seen it the day before. I called to have a cart come by to pick us up, and to pick up our luggage.

The same Polynesian driver that had taken us to the dive shop dock earlier in the stay came to pick us up with a cart. We offered him the remainder of our Stolichnaya vodka bottle so that it would not go to waste, and he thanked us saying that his wife really liked vodka. We had packed the remains of the Myers rum for ourselves later in the day. We checked out, and bought some Tahitian music CDs from the store off of the lobby.

The same bus that had brought us to the resort on Saturday brought us back to the ferry dock, stopping at the Moorea Pearl resort to pick up all of the people from our cruise that had been staying there since they had been dropped off on Saturday. As we approached the dock area there was a yellow Mini cooper parked on the side of the road that had a custom Tahitian tattoo style image painted on the roof – very cool.

The same ferry that had brought us to Moorea, the Aramati 5, would now bring us back to Tahiti. It was very wide open for seating, as there were not many passengers at this time of day (11:00). We decided to go topside for the ferry ride, since of course it was yet another beautiful sunny day. It may have been sunny, but you do get some very healthy wind on the open deck of a boat that is moving at well more than 20 knots.

When we arrived at the dock in Papeete, Tahiti, there was a bus waiting for us to take us to our room for the day before our flight, back at the Intercontinental Beachcomber Resort where we had stayed when we first arrived in Tahiti two weeks ago. I had assumed that since this was just a “day room” that it would not be particularly scenic, but we were given a very nice corner room (#339) in the main building with a great view over the main pool to our right, and the lagoon to our left, with a very nice balcony.

We stopped over at the Aquatica dive shop to buy some t-shirts, and they gave me an Aquatica sticker for my pelican case. We bought some coconut cookies and pineapple juice to enjoy with our rum up on the balcony, but some very friendly tropical birds persuaded us to give them a healthy portion of the cookies on the balcony.

This was our last afternoon of the trip to get some sun, so we hung out by the Le Lotus sand bottom infinity pool, and had one last pina colada from the swim-up bar. Afterwards, we watched the final sunset of the trip from our balcony while sipping rum and fresh pineapple juice, although we still could not quite finish that original bottle of Myers rum from the cruise, as much as we had tried. The sunset was like all of the others – amazing. As the sun went down there were very many racing canoes that passed by that evidently were training for an upcoming major local canoe race.

Eventually, with reluctance to leave, we called the front desk to have our luggage picked up, and soon we were on the bus back to the airport. The airport was very crowded, as most of the commercial flights (and all of the flights to the US) leave late in the evening. There were no luggage carts, but fortunately we were able to avoid the very long initial security line by using a separate first class/business class line. After passing through the initial security and bag screening, we checked our bags, but due to ambiguous directions walked back through the security area where even though we were on the “already been through” side, they stopped me to check the dive housing bag again (which had already been screened). We then went through the inside security and metal detector screening, where our other carry-on bags were completely opened and checked.

Finally done with security, we went up to the second level where there was a very nice Business/First Class private lounge with some unusually nice snacks and drinks for an airport club. We arrived downstairs at the gate about 30 seconds before the flight started boarding. As we boarded we were greeted by the very same young French flight attendant that had served us on the flight down from Los Angeles, and she gave us each a Tiare flower. The service, food, and wine on Air Tahiti Nui in Business Class were again excellent, and I could not pass up the opportunity to eat some parrotfish as part of my entrée. After we watched the movie “50 First Dates” we both slept for most of the flight back to Los Angeles.

When we arrived into LAX and were off of the airplane, our checked bags were already waiting for us to take them through customs and immigration. Customs and Immigration in LAX was the most efficient that I’ve ever seen, anywhere, and within 5 minutes our bags were already rechecked to Minneapolis and we were on our way out. There was no tax on the black pearls that we had bought since they were loose rather than set in jewelry, and part of some sort of trade agreement between French Polynesia and the US. A surprising but rather nice touch was that just as we left the security area in the international terminal at LAX, there was a Radisson Seven Seas Cruises representative waiting to direct us to our next flight and to be available if anyone had any l next flight and to be available if anyone had any l next flight and to be available if anyone had any logistical questions. We already knew where we were going – over to terminal #2 for Northwest Airlines.

We had some drinks and snacks in the Northwest Worldclub in terminal #2, and our Northwest flight left LA and arrived on time into Minneapolis, with us in the First Class cabin. We took a taxi home, as in the First Class cabin. We took a taxi home, as in the First Class cabin. We took a taxi home, as in the First Class cabin. We took a taxi home, as in the First Class cabin. We took a taxi home, as in the First Class cabin. We took a taxi home, as in the First Class cabin. We took a taxi home, as in the First Class cabin. We took a taxi home, as in the First Class cabin. We took a taxi home, as in the First Class cabin. We took a taxi home, as in the First Class cabin. We took a taxi home, as in the First Class cabin. We took a taxi home, and are still feeling mellow from the whole experience. We MUST go back to French Polynesia, it is THE BEST!

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Ken